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Benjamin Brumfield
"A search party early Friday morning … the body of John Benjamin Brumfield … Walthall County farmer near his home after a hunt that continued all night. Mr. Brumfield, a son of the late Mr. and Mrs. H. S. Brumfield, pioneer settlers of the area, left his home 6 miles east of Holmesville in the Bridges community at about noon Thursday, en route by horseback to the home of his son, George.
He intended going with the son to Summit to the Thursday cattle sale, a member of the family said. Thus, when the horse returned home around 3:00 o'clock that afternoon still bridled but without saddle, it was thought the aged farmer had released the animal after arriving at this son's home. However, at 7:00 that night, the son returned from Summit without knowledge of his father and a huge crowd of Walthall officers, neighbors and friends gathered to search through the woods and fields for Mr. Brumfield. At times during the night, as many as 250 or 300 persons were in the searching party, but it was not until 7 a.m. Friday that the body was discovered in woods not more than 300 yards from the home. A Mr. Magee, of the searchers, is said to have been the one who first sighted the remains. The body lay near a stump, the horse's saddle also being discovered some 30 feet away. Conjecture is that Mr. Brumfield either suffered a heart attack before falling from his mount, or that he fell from the animal and struck his head and face on the stump and roots, suffering injuries that rendered him helpless and caused him eventually to succumb.
Mr. Brumfield leaves his wife, Mrs. Mary Gent Brumfield; a son, George Brumfield, Tylertown; three daughters, Mrs. Judge Hughes, Louisville; Mrs. Louis Moore, Natchez; Mrs. Samuel Neil, El Paso, Texas; three brothers, Charley Brumfield, Brookhaven; Henry Brumfield, McComb; and D. A. (Dud) Brumfield, Summit, Route 3; three sisters, Mrs. J. J. Lee, Walker's Bridge; Mrs. E. E. Thigpen, Biloxi, and Mrs. H. G. Mackey, Rogers, Ark., six grandchildren and many other relatives."
Source: Magee, Zuma Fendlason. Selected Obituaries from Louisiana (Washington & Tangipahoa Parishes) and from Mississippi (Pike, Walthall & Marion Counties). Volume I. Franklinton, Louisiana: Privately printed, 1976. From Franklinton Library, LA.


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Ahmann '52: Fifty Years Since the March on Washington
August 20, 2013
On August 28, 1963, more than 250,000 people gathered in Washington, D.C. for what has been called the greatest demonstration for freedom in the nation's history. The lone Catholic chairman and a voice from the podium that day was Mathew Ahmann.
Ahmann was appointed the founding director of the National Catholic Council for Interracial Justice (NCCIJ) in 1960. Among his accomplishments, he organized the National Conference on Religion and Race in 1963, which brought 657 religious leaders from 78 denominations together to discuss race issues.
Just seven months later, Ahmann was the Catholic presence both as a chairman and speaker at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.
Ahmann may be one of the least known but most important figures in the history of Catholic support for the Civil Rights Movement in the 60s. "Matt's work brought the Catholic Church out of its shell on civil rights issues," said Jerry Ernst, who worked for the NCCIJ and later worked with Ahmann at Catholic Charities USA. "His thoughtful, methodical, action-oriented method changed the way the church operated on these issues. It opened up the church."
Mathew Ahmann died in 2001. He will be honored posthumously in October with the Colman J. Barry Award for Distinguished Contributions to Religion and Society.
Complete story on Mathew Ahmann in the Saint John's Magazine.

subset: commoncrawl


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Last Updated 24 November, 2014
Many Internet users are understandably hesitant to provide personal information to web sites due to privacy issues, and we recognize that your personal details shared via our web site are a valuable trust. With this in mind, LeTourneau University commits that the information received via our web site will only be used to promote our mission and to provide appropriate services to you.
We do not sell or trade our lists of names and addresses to anyone for solicitation purposes. Third parties only have access to our lists when they provide us a service that will enhance our information or our service to you (for example, to verify addresses against public directories) .
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Philadelphia, PA – Donnie Murphy's three-run homer in the ninth inning lifted the Chicago Cubs to a 5-2 win over the Philadelphia Phillies on Wednesday.
With two on and two out in the ninth, Murphy clubbed a homer deep of Justin De Fratus to deep left field, capping a 3-for-3, four-RBI performance which also included an early solo homer. Junior Lake had two hits and an RBI for the Cubs, who snapped a five-game losing skid.
"I knew he didn't want to put another guy one, I knew I had an advantage after facing him last night and he just gave me a good pitch to hit," said Murphy.
Pedro Strop (2-1) tossed a scoreless eighth to get the win and Kevin Gregg spun a perfect ninth frame to nail down his 23rd save of the season.
Luis Garcia (0-1) was charged with the loss after putting two runners on in the ninth inning,
"We have guys in that bullpen that are going to be good, we just don't know who they are right now," said Phillies manager Charlie Manuel.
Starter Cole Hamels gave up just two runs on six hits without issuing a walk over seven innings. Over his last seven starts, Hamels is just 2-2 despite posting 2.16 earned run average.
Domonic Brown crushed a leadoff homer into the bullpen in right-center field to give the Phillies a 1-0 lead in the second inning, but Murphy's first homer of the night tied things up in the third.
Murphy sliced a line drive down the right field line that bounced off the top railing on the fence and bounced into the foul pole before landing in the stands.
Chicago took the lead in the fifth inning. Cody Ransom hit a leadoff double, Murphy was plunked, then Ransom moved to third on Travis Wood's groundout before scoring on Lake's base hit to shallow center.
The Phils managed to tie the game in the seventh. John Mayberry doubled to start, moved to third on an Erik Kratz flyout before scoring on Chase Utley's pinch-hit single to center field.
After Michael Young followed with a walk, Kevin Frandsen laced a single to right field. Utley rounded third and broke for home, sliding into the plate as Cubs catcher Dionner Navarro fielded Cole Gillespie's throw. At the last second, Utley popped out of his slide and drove his shoulder through Navarro's chest, bending the catcher's ankle awkwardly.
Navarro held on to the throw and recorded the out, but was carted off the field and taken to a local hospital for X-rays, which came back negative. The injury is considered a contusion.
Game Notes
Cubs outfielder Thomas Neal also left the game in the seventh inning with a dislocated right shoulder ... Murphy had just one homer entering the contest ... The Cubs were 2-for-7 with runners in scoring position ... Brown joined Pat Burrell and Scott Rolen as the only two Phillies players to hit at least 25 homers in a season at age 25-or-younger ... Philadelphia went 2-for-8 with RISP and left nine runners on base ... Prior to the game, MLB.com reported that the Phillies and Utley had agreed to terms on a contract extension. According to that report, the club has been discussing an extension with the fan-favorite second baseman for several weeks. General manager Ruben Amaro Jr. has frequently stated that he envisioned Utley as a "Phillie for life", but terms of the deal were not available.


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If you missed it at the theaters when it was released in February, now you can watch the $85 million film (grossed over $200 million worldwide) at home, or on your iPad or iPhone, or…
I saw it, and reviewed it here on S&A. I didn't care for it, as the title of this post suggests.
And if you missed my review, it follows below, after the jump…
You've seen it all before in one form or another, in pieces or as a whole; rogue government operative (who "tested off the charts" of course) carrying secrets that could end the careers of many of his comrades still working within (or I should say manipulating) the system (CIA, FBI, MI6, La-Di-Dah, Dum-Di-Dum); naturally he's a wanted man – ideally, they'd prefer his rotting carcass hand delivered to them, but they'll take him however they can get him.
But thanks to the interference and determination of a young upstart agent with much to prove (he wants a promotion from his boring *desk job* to active duty), plans are continually shifting, bodies pile up, there's the oh-so predictable double-cross/twist/whatever you want to call it when it's revealed which one of the agency *insiders* is actually responsible for facilitating much of the mayhem (gun fights, fist fights, car chases, explosions, etc, etc, etc) that's prevalent throughout the film.
You'll find a collection of scenes from a number of what I'd call spy thrillers released over the last 50 years, starting with the Bourne series (and working your way backwards). There's even a *war room* with dozens of screens, each workstation manned by some geek minion with thick-framed specs, tapping away at keys as the higher-ups pace around the room, barking out orders, or arguing amongst themselves as to what their next course of action should be, with all their efforts focused on locating the whereabouts of their rogue agent (who used to be pals with some of them) and/or the kid who's taken it upon himself to "bring him in," by any means necessary.
I couldn't help but think of *war room* scenes between Joan Allen and David Strathairn in the last 2 Bourne movies, replaced by Vera Farmiga and Brendan Gleeson in Safe House, with Sam Shepherd as the gruff almighty.
Whether the kid has *turned* becomes a concern, after he willingly disobeys orders from his superiors about midway through the film to essentially back off and let them "take it from here." And of course he doesn't! He has principles, morals; he wants to do what's right. He's a good guy who loves his girlfriend very much, even though he lies to her about what he does for a living, and eventually has to "let her go" as instructed by his older, wiser (black) *teacher* because "people like us can't have normal lives and relationships," and he was also "just like him" when he was his age and first started out at a desk job as an agent, all bright-eyed and ambitious, though also naïve to how shit really works.
And by the end of the film, the lesson is over, the student has of course learned, as demonstrated by one final fatal act that forces him to choose and act quickly; he gets an on-the-job education that 20 years in CIA school wouldn't afford him.
So yes, it's utterly predictable stuff, in case you haven't already figured that out by now 🙂
And that's actually really unfortunate because the rest of the film is solid! A stellar cast of actors – veterans, upstarts and everything between, whose names collectively on any other film (as they are on Safe House) would make me sit up and pay attention; director Daniel Espinosa brings his Snabba Cash stylo (the 2010 Swedish thriller he directed that got Hollywood's attention and the Safe House gig); think Paul Greengrass and his quasi-documentary-style of directing – the hand-held though steady camera, gritty images, stark portraiture, realistic performances from good actors, and more; the action is hard and fast and there's an immediacy to it all that keeps you entertained for the most part. But it's all spoiled by the lack of any anxiety that comes with anticipating what may or may not happen next, because you already know. You're really hoping that formula doesn't trump surprise, and that what you think is about to happen doesn't, shaking up any comfort that you feel in your projections of the film's direction.
Alas, no. Almost everything occurs exactly as you'd expect it to.
Boo-hoo. All that wonderful, confident technical work feels wasted. Film screening experience ruined.
But some of you will be entertained enough by it that you'd be willing to overlook its weaknesses; or maybe you just wouldn't notice them; or you wouldn't care. Munch on your popcorn, gasp and guffaw at all the visual theatrics and smart-ass one-liners, and exit the theater feeling like you got your money's worth – a 2-hour thrill ride of a film released during what should be the doldrums of the winter months. And by the time you're back in your car, or on the subway train or bus, heading back home, you would have forgotten all about it.
Job done, says the studio that produced and released it. We got your money bitches!
I could go further, but I don't think it's worth it.
But for those expecting it to be the "Denzel Washington show," I'll advise you to go in with lowered expectations because he's really a supporting character in this. This is Ryan Reynolds' movie. Denzel's the bigger name certainly and probably received a fatter paycheck; but Reynolds is the star of Safe House.
He gets the girl, kills the bad guy, and goes through a transformation. Call it a coming-of-age action movie, with Reynolds as protagonist about to go through a conversion, and Denzel being the key fulcrum of his psychological development and eventual change.
This is all established quite early on in the film when the pair have their first tussle – a battle in a moving vehicle that suggests Reynolds is himself a force to be reckoned with; despite Denzel's character's seniority in terms of years on the job and overall training and skill, the young nobody who spends much of his working life stationary, playing ping pong with walls, proves to be almost every bit the veteran's equal.
I'm baffled at the fact that such an unoriginal script was a Black List project at one time (supposedly the list of the hottest unproduced scripts in any given year). When? In 1992?
Review aggregator site RottenTomatoes.com says 6 out of 10 critics (thus far) are negative on it; no surprise.
But it should open at number 1 this weekend, although Journey 2 (a family friendly Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson fantasy flick) could give it a run.
I wonder if anyone in Journey 2 "tested off the charts" as well 🙂
Trailer below:


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A friend recently came up with a druid 5/fighter 1. He took the fighter level to allow himself to use heavy armor. He has a full stone plate and a wooden shield, and he uses Wild Shape to change into a dire tiger. Apparently, the armor and shield get absorbed into his new form, and stack with the dire tiger's natural armor to get him around 28 AC at lvl 6, with the ability to cast spells (with the natural spell feat).
Is this legal? I'm having a LOT of trouble imagining a druid in heavy armor and a shield, casting spells with no penalty whatsoever. I know druid can be broken with the natural spell feat, but this seems a bit too ridiculous to be legal.
This is standard Pathfinder with no 3rd party rules.


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From a Washington Post article about google.org, Google's philanthropic effort:
Shareholder activists said Google's charitable commitment raises questions about whether this is an appropriate use of company cash or whether company founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page ought to make donations to their favorite causes personally. The foundation of Bill Gates, the founder and chairman of Microsoft Corp. and the nation's richest person according to Forbes, gave away more than a billion dollars last year to fight poverty, hunger and disease around the world. But Gates donates through a personal foundation, rather than through Microsoft itself.
"The board of directors should make it clear to the company's founders what should be personal and what should be corporate," said Patrick S. McGurn, special counsel to Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. "Google is spending shareholders' money, and it raises questions if there is not a valid corporate purpose."
Shareholder activists? You've got to be kidding me. You'd think that stock shareholders are a bunch of babies that need their noses wiped and hands held to go potty or something. If you don't want to support Google's philanthropic efforts and think that they're throwing your money away by doing so, there's an easy way to opt out: DON'T BUY GOOGLE STOCK. It's a free country and open market...vote with your money on what you think is a "valid corporate purpose". There are thousands of other companies to invest in that are doing other things, many of which operate exactly the same...nice and safe and by the book. The information on what these companies are doing with their shareholders' money is freely available...get informed about what you're buying. Given their P/E ratio, unique corporate approach, and incredible rate of growth, Google might just be the riskiest large-cap stock opportunity out there, but the potential upside (as well as the downside) is a lot greater than all of those companies playing it safe. As long as it's stated (and I believe Google certainly has made their views very clear), risk isn't something from which shareholders should be warned away.


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Get fecal samples from veterinary clients with these three tips.
Frustrated with the number of clients who forget to bring a fecal sample? The team at Metzger Animal Hospital in State College, Pa., created a new protocol to lock in fecal exams:
1. Receptionists tell each client who schedules an appointment to bring a fecal sample just in case the doctor wants it.
2. Clients pay for the fecal at the time of the exam. If they don't bring a sample, team members send home a collection vial with a label that explains how much poop to scoop—at least half a vial—and how to store it. Once the client brings the sample, team members send it to an outside lab.
"We tell the owner we will call with results only if the sample is positive for parasites," says Ciera Miller, CVT, a Firstline Editorial Advisory Board member.
3. Out-of-town clients can opt for an in-house fecal. "We have a lot of out-of-town clients who would be inconvenienced to drive back just for a fecal sample," Miller says. "In this case, we can perform an in-house fecal. This approach has worked great for us."


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Three North Carolina universities made this Final Four and in the end, North Carolina A&T emerged victorious.
No, this wasn't college basketball. N.C. A&T won the the second annual ACC Clean Energy Business Plan Challenge held Tuesday at North Carolina State University. The contest had schools pitching clean energy proposals before a panel of judges comprised of energy industry representatives from companies such as ABB, Duke Energy and Siemens. A total of 10 universities presented at this year's event.
The N.C. A&T project, presented by student Daniel Oldham, proposes turning hog waste into an adhesive that can be used in building materials and road repair. The other schools making the final four were Clemson University, Duke University and N.C. State. As the winning school, the N.C. A&T project receives $100,000 and the chance to compete in the National Clean Energy Business Plan finals.
The competition was organized by the Research Triangle Cleantech Cluster, a program of the Research Triangle Research Partnership. The public-private partnership works to promote economic development in the Triangle region.


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The NY Times and ABC News report quite differently on the Mark Foley scandal [And the NY Times wins; ABC exaggerated its story - see TIEBREAK, below].
Yesterday ABC headlined comments from former page Matthew Loraditch:
GOP Staff Warned Pages About Foley in 2001
A Republican staff member warned congressional pages five years ago to watch out for Congressman Mark Foley, according to a former page.
Matthew Loraditch, a page in the 2001-2002 class, told ABC News he and other pages were warned about Foley by a supervisor in the House Clerk's office.
Loraditch, the president of the Page Alumni Association, said the pages were told "don't get too wrapped up in him being too nice to you and all that kind of stuff."
Loraditch says that some of the pages who "interacted" with Foley were hesitant to report his behavior because "members of Congress, they've got the power." Many of the pages were hoping for careers in politics and feared Foley might seek retribution.
Loraditch runs the alumni association for the U.S. House Page Program, and he is deeply concerned about the future effects this scandal could have on a program that he sees as a valuable educational experience for teens.
Yet the Times also talked to Mark Loraditch and bureid his quotes in a story headlined "Former Pages Describe Foley as Caring Ally":
Matthew Loraditch, who worked as a page with Ms. Gallo and Mr. McDonald in 2001 and 2002, said a supervisor had once casually mentioned that Mr. Foley "was odd" and that he later saw sexually explicit text messages that Mr. Foley had sent to two former pages after they left the program.
But Mr. Loraditch said he was never warned by program supervisors to stay away from him. "He was friendly," said Mr. Loraditch, who maintains a Web site for alumni and attends Towson University in Maryland. "He would talk to us more than some other members would."
Pretty dramatic stuff from ABC News, although the two versions do not flatly contradict each other. In the ABC version Mr. Loraditch was "warned", although the nature of the warning is left vague (Gee, by accident or design?). In the Times version, Mr. Loraditch got a casual mention that Foley was "odd". Well, that is sort of like a warning, yes?
Looks like Mr. Loraditch will be getting more calls to arrange a tie-breaking interview.
TIEBREAK: Mr. Loraditch has posted an explanation on his Facebook page and the Times wins:
...another page, who asked not to be named told The Palm Beach Post, "The program in no official capacity warned us about it," and he said that Loraditch had posted an explanation for his comments to ABC on the college social network, Facebook.com.
Loraditch's Facebook.com statement said: "I have received several heated responses from my fellow pages about media involvement in the current situation. I want to respond with a few points and thoughts.
"Firstly, as to the ABC "Warned" story, while I may have inadvertently used the word, "warned," in communication, I can assure you it was not intended. The fact of the matter is in an informal situation a supervisor mentioned that Foley was a bit odd or flaky and did not connote by tone or otherwise that he should be avoided.
"Secondly as to talking out in general, . . . I don't think anyone can argue that protecting kids, pages, or whomever from sexual predators is anything but the most important of this whole saga. Nothing comes in front of the safety of the page program, not the page program, a member of congress, no one.
"Thirdly, I have stressed several key points in my contact with media that all situations with Mr. Foley occurred after we had finished our service as pages. That if anything had happed while we were in Washington, it would have been dealt with. That I have full faith and trust that any of the supervisors and staff we worked with would have properly dealt with any situation like the current one. That the page program is one of the most wonderful and educational experiences a youth can have.
"Fourthly, although not all of you know people who have had these horrible conversation with Foley, I do. And frankly that gives me all the more reason to speak out. . . .
"Finally, if i have hurt or offended anyone, I am sorry. And I love my page friends and I cherish my relationships with the page program staff, however fracture some of this may have made them. I want you all to know that I truly believe that I'm doing the best that I can do."
The other page said most pages are angry at Loraditch's comments and that the page program did its best to ensure the safety of pages, with strict rules and curfews.


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Classifying employees as exempt or nonexempt might seem easy at first glance. Either they are salaried or they are hourly. Accordingly, they either are eligible to earn overtime for hours worked or they are not.
But it's not that simple. Nor are the penalties a business can face. Complaints can be made against a business up to two years after an alleged misclassification and resulting lost wages.
Compliance is Key
Such allegations can prove costly, especially if tension in the workplace escalates between the accuser and the business to the level of what could be considered discrimination or harassment. In fact, the U.S. Department of Labor Website's compliance section states:
"It is a violation to fire or in any other manner discriminate against an employee for filing a complaint or for participating in a legal proceeding under the FLSA.
"Willful violations may be prosecuted criminally and the violator fined up to $10,000. A second conviction may result in imprisonment."
In addition, any employer found to have willfully violated employee rights, whether exempt or nonexempt from the guidelines outlined in the FLSA, "may be prosecuted criminally and fined up to $10,000," DOL documents state. "A second conviction may result in imprisonment. Employers who willfully or repeatedly violate the minimum wage or overtime pay requirements are subject to civil money penalties of up to $1,100 per violation."
When Wage and Hour investigators uncover violations, the DOL will often work with that employers to help them become compliant. In addition, they will be required to pay any back wages that may be due to employees.
Two-Part Test
So what is the standard by which an exempt and nonexempt employee can be measured, and what rules apply to each classification? To be considered exempt, a salaried employee must meet specific salary and duty requirements.
An employee, who is salaried who earns less than $455 per week would be nonexempt and therefore eligible for overtime and other protections under the FLSA. An exempt employee would not be eligible for overtime, but with limited exceptions, must receive their full salary for any week during which they work, Compensation Management News reports. For more information, visit Compensation.BLR.com.
The second portion of the test relates to the duties an employee performs, their job category such as administrative, computer specialists, outside sales and more. For specific exemptions, see the accompanying chart or visit the DOL Website. In some cases, as with computer specialists, otherwise exempt employees may be paid hourly instead as long as they earn $27.63 or more per hour.
Managing Expectations
In Arizona, there is no legal definition for exempt and nonexempt employees. Everybody is entitled to a minimum wage. However, Arizona does have its own unique minimum wage law. Arizona's minimum wage is $7.35 per hour and federal minimum wage is $7.25.
While exempt employees are generally not eligible for overtime, they reap other benefits.
"If a person works part of a day and then leaves, you cannot dock them if they are exempt," explained John Balitis, an employment and labor attorney with Fennemore Craig. "The caveat is that you can dock a salaried, exempt employee's leave days, so long as it does not result in a loss of compensation during the pay period in which the docking occurs. So, the docking rule for partial day absences is different, depending on whether you are talking about pay or leave."
Paul W. Barada, a salary and negotiation expert for Monster, agrees. "Exempt employees are generally expected to devote the number of hours necessary to complete their respective tasks, regardless of whether that requires 35 hours per week or 55 hours per week. Their compensation doesn't change based on actual hours expended. Exempt employees aren't paid extra for putting in more than 40 hours per week; they're paid for getting the job done," Barada wrote in a career advice article published on Monster.com.
If not hours, what then, constitutes an exempt employee's fulfillment of having completed a day's work?
"This is an interesting issue that judges and lawyers are talking about, but there is no clear answer," Balitis said. "Given the proliferation of smart phones and employees checking their email, voice mail and texts while they are at home or in the car on the way to work, there is case law that says that becomes compensable time—so the day has started and exempt/salaried employees have to be paid."
Balitis said employers, regardless of size, would be well-advised to to purchase a multi-law comprehensive poster for the workplace. If purchased as a subscription from a service, he said, companies generally send updated posters when any of the requirements change.
Commonly Used Exemptions
Commissioned sales employees of retail or service establishments are exempt from overtime if more than half of the employee's earnings come from commissions and the employee averages at least one and one-half times the minimum wage for each hour worked. You may also wish to review the applicable regulation.
Computer professionals: Section 13(a)(17) of the FLSA provides that certain computer professionals paid at least $27.63 per hour are exempt from the overtime provisions of the FLSA.
Drivers, driver's helpers, loaders and mechanics are exempt from the overtime pay provisions of the FLSA if employed by a motor carrier, and if the employee's duties affect the safety of operation of the vehicles in transportation of passengers or property in interstate or foreign commerce. You may also wish to review the applicable regulation.
Farmworkers employed on small farms are exempt from both the minimum wage and overtime pay provisions of the FLSA. You may also wish to review the specific regulation.
Young workers employed on small farms, with parental consent, are also exempt from the child labor provisions of the FLSA. For more information on exemptions from the child labor provisions of the FLSA in agriculture, click the underlined text. Other farmworkers are exempt from the FLSA's overtime provisions. You may also wish to review the specific regulation.
Salesmen, partsmen and mechanics employed by automobile dealerships are exempt from the overtime pay provisions of the FLSA. You may also wish to review the applicable regulation.
Seasonal and recreational establishments: Employees employed by certain seasonal and recreational establishments are exempt from both the minimum wage and overtime pay provisions of the FLSA. You may also wish to review the applicable regulation.
Executive, administrative, professional and outside sales employees: (as defined in Department of Labor regulations) and who are paid on a salary basis are exempt from both the minimum wage and overtime provisions of the FLSA.
For more information about commonly used exemptions, visit www.dol.gov.
Source: US Department of Labor elaws – Fair Labor Standards Act Advisor
[stextbox id="grey"]Learn more about nonexempt vs. exempt employees at Compensation.BLR.com.[/stextbox]


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Fox News Devotes Zero Seconds To Covering Brutal Anti-Gay Hate Crime
Written by Carlos Maza
The recent brutal slaying of a gay man in New York City had all the trappings of a national news story, so why was it ignored by major cable news outlets?
On May 17, Mark Carson was shot in the face and killed while walking home in New York's Greenwich Village by a man who pelted him with anti-gay slurs and asked, "You want to die tonight?" Carson's alleged killer, Elliot Morales, reportedly laughed as he was arrested by police, bragging about what he had done.
The incident highlights a recent spike in anti-gay hate crimes both in New York City and across the country. Days after Carson's death, community members staged a massive rally against anti-gay violence featuring several city mayoral candidates.
Carson's death was also symbolically significant. The shooting took place just blocks away from the Stonewall Inn, considered by many to be the birthplace of the modern gay rights movement. And the brutal hate crime comes in the wake of growing acceptance of LGBT people, with three more states adopting marriage equality just in the past several weeks.
But despite the significance of Carson's death, cable news outlets largely ignored the incident, opting instead to continue obsessively reporting on the trial against Jodi Arias, a woman who has been convicted of murdering her boyfriend.
According to an Equality Matters analysis, while all three major cable news networks extensively covered Arias' trial and her plea to jurors to avoid the death penalty, CNN spent less than one minute discussing Carson's murder, and Fox News ignored the story completely:
Only MSNBC devoted a full segment to Carson's murder, rightly pointing out the recent surge in anti-gay violence even as LGBT people win legislative battles across the country:
So what explains the failure of major cable news networks to cover Carson's story?
For some networks, the decision to ignore the Carson case and focus on the Arias trial likely has more to do with ratings than anything else. Arias' plea to avoid the death penalty was a ratings gold mine for cable news networks, despite the substantive portion of her trial having been over for weeks.
For Fox, ignoring Carson's murder fits into the network's larger pattern of downplaying anti-LGBT violence and harassment while peddling trivial anti-equality horror stories.
But whatever reason cable news networks have for ignoring anti-gay violence, the result is the same: viewers fail to recognize the day-to-day challenges and threats faced by LGBT Americans, while anti-gay activists have an easier time promoting the bogus narrative that LGBT people aren't actually a marginalized group.


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When it's time to purchase a brand new outdoor winter jacket you may be willing to consider whether to choose from the Patagonia R4 Jacket or the Arcteryx Covert Hoody.
Both of them are made from warm fleece which could reduce cold winds and pull moisture away from the skin. The features of these jackets are little different, but the advantages are about the same with both of the options.
Using Your Jacket
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The fleece used in both of the Patagonia R4 Jacket and Arcteryx Covert Hoody is also very easy to care for. Fleece can also be washed and dried along with cotton and other materials.
When you have an easy care maintenance of the fleece you do not have to be conscious about your jacket getting dirty hiking or backpacking.
Choosing Your Jacket
When choosing between the Patagonia and the Arcteryx jacket you might need to start by looking at which of the jacket has the features which are most important to you.For instance, the Patagonia jacket has fleece lined pockets while the Arcteryx jacket has deep pockets that allows you to hold more items than the usual jacket. You could find that the knit pattern of the Arcteryx jacket is also nice when you want a different style of fleece jacket than normal.
With each jacket you have the addition of a higher neckline for more warmth during the coldest months of the year.
Both the Patagonia and also the Arcteryx jackets are amongst the top selling outdoor jackets for the cooler months of the year. The use of form fitting fleece guarantee that you could get active without being slowed down by a heavy, baggy jacket or Hoody while the fleece itself offers ample warmth for any winter activity.
You can find both jackets available in a wide selection of colors, also, including darker hues like black and navy.


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When Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles) find themselves living their lives on what appear to be TV shows, it makes for a whole new style of reality television and they wonder if the Trickster (guest star Richard Speight, Jr.) is to blame. From a sitcom to a soapy hospital drama to a Japanese game show to a crime procedural, each new experience they encounter is more bizarre than the next and they want out. But is the Trickster real...
Episode Guide
Season 01
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Season 05
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Season 12
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You probably realize by now that my expertise is in clocks and calendars of birds, but blogging audience forces me to occasionally look into human clocks from a medical perspective. Reprinted below the fold are three old Circadiana posts about the connection between circadian clocks and the bipolar disorder, the third one being the longest and most involved. Here are the links to the original posts if you want to check the comments (especially the first comment on the third post):
January 18, 2005: Clocks and Bipolar Disorder
August 16, 2005: Bipolar? Avoid night shift
February 19, 2006: Lithium, Circadian Clocks and Bipolar Disorder
Clocks and Bipolar Disorder
This is an interesting short review about the link between the circadian clock and the manic/depressive disorder:
Circadian Rhythms Factor in Rapid-Cycling Bipolar Disorder
....even if circadian abnormalities are neither the sole nor the primary cause of bipolar illness, it is possible that circadian interventions can have therapeutic utility. Compared to psychotropic medications, circadian interventions are relatively flexible therapeutic modalities; they have a rapid onset and offset of action, and their clinical effects may be altered by changing the time that they are administered. This flexibility may be particularly useful in rapid-cycling bipolar patients, whose frequent mood cycles may require rapid lterations in their therapeutic regimen. Further research will indicate what, if any, role circadian dysfunction plays in the pathogenesis of rapid-cycling bipolar disorder, and whether circadian interventions can be helpful to these often treatment-resistant patients.
One thing they do not mention is that Lithium is one of the most effective drugs in the treatment of bipolar disorder. Lithium is also one of the very rare substances that is capable of altering properties of circadian rhythms (lengthening the period) in vivo and in vitro. If I remember correctly, a couple of years ago Eric Herzog and colleagues published a paper demonstrating that Lithium lengthens the period of the circadian rhythms of individual dispersed cells of the suprachisamatic nucleus in a dish. The work until then was all on effects of Lithium on rhythmicity of whole animals, thus various feedback loops between the clock and other brain areas could not be discounted.
Bipolar? Avoid night shift
I have only touched a little bit on the topic of interaction between the circadian clock and Bipolar Disorder before. You can find stuff online like this, this and this.
What I'd like to focus on right now is an interesting hypothesis, called the Social Rhythm Stability Hypothesis (SRSH). One of the originators of this hypothesis is Cindy Ehlers, now at Scripps (See her website here. See one of her papers, e.g,. Ehlers CL, Kupfer DJ, Frank E, Monk TH. Biological rhythms and depression: The role of Zeitgebers and zeitstorers. Depression 1:285-293, 1994.).
According to SRSH, the core problem in bipolar disorder is instability of regular daily patterns of activity. As I have mentioned before, light-dark cycle is the most powerful environmental cue (Zeitgeber) that entrains circadian rhythms, but is not the only one. Cold-blooded animals entrain to temperature cycles, and several other cues have been demonstrated in various species. Humans are extremely sensitive to social cues. Getting a brief social cue about time of day resets the human clock even if all other cues (e.g., light) are removed.
Social rhythms in bipolar patients remain stable if the social Zeitgebers are stable. People around you have their own regular schedules, both at work and at home. Your pets ask to be walked on the leash at exactly the same time each day. This is good.
What is bad is that bipolar patients are extremely sensitive to disruptions of social schedules. Ehlers and others coined a new term - Zeitstorer - to describe a person or a social demand that throws off the regularity of the daily pattern of activity. Whenever you start a new relationship, get a new job, buy a new pet, or have a baby, your schedule is disrupted. If you are bipolar, this will result in wild cycling until you get used to the new routine.
Now consider getting a job that demands you work on a rotating shift. You are getting a Zeitstorer every week! Bad idea if you are a bipolar sufferer. Even a steady night shift is a disturbance as such a pattern is hard on one's body and one also tends to shift back to daytime activities over the weekends.
Is SRSH a realistic hypothesis? I say - why not? It has been shown long ago that circadian rhythm disturbances are both causes and symptoms of bipolar disorder. During depressive episodes, the phase is advanced - you usually become more of a "lark", you wake up earlier and have a lesser total amount of activity per day. During manic episodes, one is more of an "owl", staying up late and increasing total daily activity.
Lithium is one of the rare chemicals that has been shown to affect the period of the circadian clock. For instance you can see here that even individual neurons of the mammalian clock (the SCN) lengthen their period when exposed to lithium. If you have paid attention in class you know that period determines phase. Increasing the period delays the phase (if your period is 25 hours you will wake up 1 hour after dawn every day, if your period is 23 hours you will wake up 1 hour before dawn every day - that works in humans only if you exit civilization and live out in the wild). Thus lithium phase-delays the rhythm which is already phase-advanced, thus, hopefully, putting back into a normal phase.
Lithium, Circadian Clocks and Bipolar Disorder
I have previously only touched on the immensely interesting topic of the possible connection between circadian clocks and the Bipolar Disorder. A recent paper prompted me to look into this in a little more detail.
Lithium Affects the Circadian Clock
First, let's go a little bit into the past, the early history of chronobiology. During the 1940s and 1950s, while the field was still in its pioneering spirit and little was known about the circadian clocks, many researchers were using survey (or shot-gun) approaches to the studies of biological rhythms: studying as many organisms as they could get their hands on in order to come up with generalities and evolutionary answers, surgically removing every possible organ or brain region in order to find locations of clocks in various organisms, exposing the organisms to every possible light regimen imaginable in order to study the oscillatory properties of biological clocks, etc.
One of the approaches was to administer to animals every chemical one could find on the lab-shelf to see how it affects the circadian rhythms. This line of work yielded a big surprise - biological clocks are amazingly resistant to pharmacological agents. The few substances that had an effect were hormone melatonin (naturally, as it is the main signaling molecule of the circadian system), heavy water (deuterium oxide) and lithium (a few others were found much later, including sex steroid hormones). Lithium had the same effect - slowing down the clock, i.e., increasing the period - in a number of philogenetically very distant organisms.
Lithium affects the Bipolar Disorder
At the same time, lithium was one of the most prescribed drugs for treating bipolar disorder (at that time usually called "manic-depressive disorder"). Soon enough, people started making the links between effects of lithium on bipolar dissorder and the effects of lithium on the circadian clock. Is the bipolar disorder essentialy a circadian clock disorder?
During periods of depression, the circadian rhythms are phase-advanced (click to enlarge):
Lithium is supposed to phase-delay the phase-advanced rhythms, i.e., bring them back to the normal phase. Here is an actograph of the sleep-wake cycle of a bipolar patient treated with various drugs, including lithium, as well as phase-shifts of the light-dark cycle, over a long period of time - Click here to enlarge so you can read the text:
This does not appear to be a very efficient treatment by lithium in this particular patient, though.
Lithium Affects Circadian Pacemaker Cells in a dish
Much more recently, it was discovered that each individual pacemaker cell (in the suprachiasmatic nucleus of the hypothalamus) in the mammalian circadian system responds to lithium. In other words, the effects of lithium are not at the system level (e.g., interfering with cell-cell communication), but on the level of the cell. This suggests that lithium may act on a particular clock gene and the search for the gene in question commenced.
To make things easier, the candidate clock-gene target of lithium is likely not to be limited to mammals, or vertebrates, as lithium has the same effects on rhythms in other organisms, including the fruitfly Drosophila melanogaster. Thus, it is likely that the target clock gene is one that is shared by the circadian clocks in Invertebrates and Vertebrates, thus somewhat narrowing down the list of candidates.
Molecular Mechanism of Circadian Rhythm Generation in Mammals
Let me now try to explain how the mammalian circadian clock works on the molecular level in as simple way as possible, so the non-scientists reading this can - hopefully - understand. Biologists can follow the links for more detailed information if so inclined. In order to do this, I will first give a super-simple primer on molecular biology (I hope I don't make any stupid mistakes on this part as I type it very fast in order to get to the cool new stuff). This is an oversimplification, so I hope molecular biologists do not chastise me for omitting all the extraneous details, as much as they may be important. This is BIO 101.
We are all composed of billions of cells. All of the genetic material - DNA - is found in the nucleus of each cell. DNA is a very long linear molecule, built like a chain out of many, many links. The links in the chain are the nucleotides, each made of a sugar molecule, a phosphate and a nucleic acid. There are four types of nucleic acids in the DNA: adenine, thymine, cytosine and guanine (A, T, C and G). The order of links with different types of nucleic acids on the DNA chain is the "code".
A gene is a small string on the long DNA chain - a sequence of nucleotides that is transcribed as a unit. Transcription is the formation of an RNA molecule - also a chain - using the DNA as a template. Thus, transcription makes an RNA molecule that is a mirror image of the gene. Wherever in the DNA sequence there was C, in the RNA there will be G, and vice versa. Wherever there was T in the gene sequence, there will be A on the RNA transcript, and vice versa (with a little change here - RNA will have uracil - U - instead of T where appropriate).
Unlike DNA, RNA is capable of exiting the nucleus of the cell and entering the cytoplasm. It goes to a tiny little spherical organelle called the ribosome. There, aided by a bunch of enzymes (which are proteins) and some other types of short chains of RNA, the genetic transcript gets tranlated into protein. The order of three consecutive nucleotides (a triplet) has a chemical meaning: it is a code for a particular amino-acid. The order of triplets, thus, determines the order of amino-acids placed in the chain.
Once the whole RNA sequence is translated, the chain of amino-acids is further modified by other enzymes - they change its shape, add little molecules to it, etc. These modifications are key to the proper function of the protein. For instance, adding an ion of iron to the hemoglobin makes it possible for this molecule to transport oxygen to every cell in the body. Adding a phosphate group gives the protein extra energy. Adding a short chain of sugars assigns the protein its "zip-code", i.e., tells other proteins in the cell where to take this protein to, so they can shuttle it across the cell along microtubules, to its destination where it will perform its fuction.
Some of the proteins (called "transcription factors") have a specific role to go back into the nucleus, find particular genes (they use particular gene sequences to find and recognize them), and bind to them. The binding has an effect in either stimulating or inhibiting the transcription of that gene into RNA. Thus, the protein of that gene will or will not be synthetized in that particular cell.
Genes involved in the generation of circadian rhythms can be loosely classified into core clock genes and associated clock genes. The core clock genes are almost all transcription factors. Their proteins act by inhibiting or stimulating transcription of other core clock genes (as well as regulating expression of other - downstream - genes that serve as functional outputs of the cell, i.e., telling the body when to relase a hormone and when not, when to sleep, when to wake up, etc.).
If core clock genes were all there is, the circadian cycle would last only a couple of hours, at best. That is how long it takes for all the players to switch on and off each other once. In order to prolong the cycle to be closer to 24 hours, other genes are associated with the clock. Their protein products act as modifiers - they may add or remove phosphate groups on core clock genes, inhibit or stimulate expression of some of the core clock genes, degrade the core clock proteins either spontaneusly or upon receiving a signal that the retinae have perceived light, etc.
Here is a schematic of the mammalian circadian clock. Genes called Period, Cryptochrome, Clock and Bmal (or MOP) are the core clock genes in the mammals:
It is similar in other organisms, with some changes, and you can also watch a great animation movie here.
How lithium affects the molecular clock?
A couple of years ago, it was proposed that the protein involved in the clock mechanism that is sensitive to lithium is not one of the core clock genes, but one of the accessory genes - namely Glycogen Synthase Kinase 3Ã (GSK3), which, in turn, acts on Rev-Erb, which in turn acts on Bmal.
Now, a new paper came out with more evidence that this is so:
Nuclear Receptor Rev-erb &alpha Is a Critical Lithium-Sensitive Component of the Circadian Clock by Lei Yin, Jing Wang, Peter S. Klein and Mitchell A. Lazar. You can find the press-release and excellent media commentary here, here, here, here, and here.
According to this paper, lithium inhibits GSK3. GSK3 normally protects Rev-Erb from destruction. Rev-Erb normally inhibits expression of the core-clock gene Bmal (and perhaps also Period). Thus, when lithium is present, there is no GSK3 to protect Rev-Erb from being broken down. Without Rev-Erb, Bmal and Period get expressed again.
Perhaps this all means that in the Bipolar Disorder the clock gets "stuck" in some way. Perhaps Rev-Erb accumulates and stops the clock from running. Lithium indirectly aids the distruction of Rev-Erb, thus allowing the circadian cycle to proceed.
As they say:
"These results point to Rev-erb as a lithium-sensitive component of the human clock and therefore a possible target for developing new circadian-disorder drugs. Some patients taking lithium have developed kidney toxicity and other problems. Lazar surmises that new treatments that lead to the destruction of Rev-erb would have the potential of providing another point of entry into the circadian pathway."
What is that clock doing on top of the elevator doors?
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Wow, that's really interesting. Do you know if anyone has looked at any chemical that might shorten the cycle instead of lengthening it?
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The Biological Psychiatry unit at the NIMH has investigated these issues for many years. Search for Thomas Wehr MD and Norman Rosenthal MD initially, and proceed from there for information about phase shift agents.
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Oooh, thanks.
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I had bipolar disorder several years ago and I cured it with light therapy and a high salt diet (isotonic). The light therapy has an obvious connection to the circadian clock â it lengthens daylight. But it took me a while to find how salt was connected. I discovered that in the evening my urine sodium level rose dramatically. This implies that my sodium blood level falls at this time, probably in preparation for sleep. When my sodium level goes below a certain level it causes a condition called hyponatremia which includes mental symptoms. The high salt diet prevents me from going below that critical level and the extra evening light therapy slows down the loss of sodium during the evening hours.
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When fiscal cliff legislation passed with mainly Democratic votes, Republicans griped, "Who's the speaker?" It was humiliating for the GOP majority to play the handmaiden to minority leader Nancy Pelosi. Asked if the lopsided vote makes her the de facto speaker of the House, Pelosi demurred, coyly saying "not quite," and reveling in her renewed clout. After the Democrats failed to regain control of the House in last year's election, Pelosi appeared headed for a largely symbolic role as leader of the minority party in a chamber where the majority rules with an iron hand.
Republican infighting turned that assumption on its head with Pelosi suddenly looking stronger and more relevant than anybody anticipated, and not just because of Democratic votes that avoided the fiscal cliff. Unlike her counterpart on the Republican side, Pelosi is a leader with a firm lock on her caucus.
Her decision to stay on as leader after falling short in the 2012 election was all about what she wanted. No other Democrat would have dared to mount a challenge.
Pelosi is more Baltimore than San Francisco, taught by her five older brothers at an early age to sing "Hail to the Redskins," though she professes love for her adopted city's home team, too. "I always like to consider myself the toughest person in the room," she says with obvious delight, adding, "I don't go there to do that, but that's what usually happens."
Last Friday, after welcoming the new Congress the day before, she met with a small group of columnists, where she took her share of credit for protecting key programs from the budget knife in the fiscal cliff deal, outlined her goals for the 113th Congress, and shared some of the inside detail on the latest round of brinkmanship. She says President Obama "outdid me" when it came to standing firm against GOP demands, though she was mystified why he offered to include "chained CPI" (a new way of calculating cost of living benefits that most Democrats oppose) with the bumped-up $400,000 tax-cut cap. She wondered why he would take from the poor to give to the rich, but held her fire, not wanting to weaken the president's hand.
She concluded it was more of a tactic to smoke out the Republicans than any real concession, and says she's not worried about Obama being tough enough in the next round of fiscal warfare around raising the debt ceiling. "His whole demeanor changes when he talks about it," she says. While she favors invoking the 14th Amendment and its safeguard of the public debt, Obama has not yet endorsed that path, leaving questions about how he might enforce his determination not to negotiate over raising the debt ceiling when it becomes necessary in another six or eight weeks.
The question looming over the next Congress is whether the fiscal cliff vote with its majority of Democrats and only 85 Republican votes, a third of the GOP caucus, is a one-time occurrence or could serve as a model for future legislation. While the strong showing of Hispanics in the election should prompt Congress to act, Pelosi noted that in her welcoming remarks to the new Congress, only the Democratic side of the aisle stood and cheered when she mentioned immigration reform. Republicans remained in their seats. A few started clapping "until their neighbor said 'stop it.' I could see that," said Pelosi, "and it was stunning." You'd think they would "at least fake it or something," she said, comparing the difference between the two political parties to North Korea and South Korea "with our side all ablaze with colors and enthusiasm and sparkle in their eyes, and immigration, rah!"–and the other side grim and unsmiling and "just totally dark" in their business suits.
The Democrats only need 17 Republican votes to join them and reach a majority to pass immigration reform, or anything else for that matter, but Pelosi is a realist. "No bill will come to the floor with 17 Republicans." What about 30–or 85–or 100? Where is the breaking point? Pelosi says Democrats told the speaker how many votes they could bring on the fiscal cliff deal (and in the end, they brought more), but John Boehner never revealed how many votes he had. Pelosi thinks he expected more than the 85 he delivered. "You're negotiating with people who don't have the votes," she says.
Asked about the prospects for gun control in the House, Pelosi corrects the questioner, saying, "We talk about gun-violence prevention," which encompasses a broad array of initiatives, and banning the sale of assault weapons because otherwise gun-rights proponents portray it as confiscation. Pelosi had just come from a meeting of the Democrats' Steering and Policy Committee, where a gun-violence-prevention task force headed by California Rep. Mike Thompson has been established and where the importance of rallying outside groups was underscored. Pelosi dismissed talk of a march on Washington, saying "A groundswell across America is what's needed, not a day in Washington."
She knows the challenge ahead. She was a foot soldier in the Congress when the assault weapons passed in 1994. "A lot of members lost because of it," she recalled. Foremost among them was Texas Rep. Jack Brooks, who chaired the House Judiciary Committee. He opposed the ban but took the crime bill that contained the ban to the House floor and in the next election he was gone, just like that, and he was "King" of the Hill, said Pelosi. She visited Brooks in October, shortly before he died at almost age 90, and they talked about that vote. He said he had no regrets.
What Pelosi calls "my real epiphany" occurred when she visited a day-care center in San Francisco. "The subject has always been one that I've had my views on, but when you go to a day-care center, and somebody pops a balloon, and the kids say 'duck,' you know something is really wrong."
Knowing something is wrong is one thing. Doing something about it is the challenge before Congress. What Pelosi is saying is that if Congress is to succeed, the American people must be heard, and not just on Election Day.


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SPOTLIGHT ON UNDERUTILISATION Components of underutilisation The QLFUR can also be thought of as the sum of the quarterly unemployment rate and the quarterly underemployment rate. Since May 2008, increases in both the trend quarterly unemployment rate and the trend quarterly underemployment rate have contributed to the increase in the QLFUR. The trend quarterly unemployment rate increased from 4.2% in May 2008 to 4.4% in November 2008, while the trend underemployment rate increased from 5.9% to 6.2%, respectively. OTHER USEFUL MEASURES ABS produces a number of measures that are useful in gauging the extent and volume of labour market slack. Each month the ABS publishes the unemployment rate and the long-term unemployment rate, and each quarter the QLFUR (including the quarterly underemployment rate) is produced. Furthermore, the extended labour force underutilisation rate is produced annually and this measures the degree of labour underutilisation that exists within and outside of the labour force. In addition, in the July issue of Australian Labour Market Statistics (cat. no. 6105.0), the ABS publishes volume or hours based measures of labour underutilisation. These measures provide estimates of the number of (additional) hours that the unemployed and underemployed have to offer. FURTHER INFORMATION For further data regarding the quarterly measures of labour underutilisation please see Tables 4.1 to 4.4 in this publication. For further information about any of the measures mentioned in this article, please contact Tracey Chester (ph (02) 6252 5609 or email <email@example.com>). END NOTES 1. Research Paper: Some Aspects of Turning Point Detection in Seasonally Adjusted and Trend Estimates (Methodology Advisory Committee, June 2006 ( cat. no. 1352.0.55.079) Document Selection These documents will be presented in a new window. |


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AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Democratic gubernatorial candidate and state Sen. Wendy Davis announced Sunday she's picked the architect of Tammy Baldwin's historic U.S. Senate election last year to manage her campaign.
Karin Johanson managed Baldwin's well-funded 2012 campaign, helping her become the first openly gay candidate elected to the Senate. Baldwin also became the first woman from her home state of Wisconsin elected to that body by defeating Republican former Gov. Tommy Thompson.
"Karin has proven that she can win tough races," Bo Delp, communications director for Davis' campaign, said in a statement. "She has taken on and beaten a full arsenal of failed leadership, despite millions in negative ads."
In signing on with Davis, Johanson likely is facing an uphill climb. The Fort Worth Democrat is considered a longshot against likely GOP gubernatorial nominee and Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, who has strong statewide name recognition and a sizeable campaign war chest.
No Democrat has won statewide office in Texas since 1994, though next year's gubernatorial race features no incumbent — since Gov. Rick Perry announced this summer that he wasn't seeking a fourth full term in office.
Johanson also previously served as chief of staff and press secretary to U.S. Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland, the House's No. 2 Democrat.
In 2006, she was executive director of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. There, she led one of the largest congressional voter turnout operations ever, an $11.5 million effort covering 36 congressional districts.
Johanson also has experience campaigning in Florida and is a longtime strategist for EMILY's List, dedicated to getting Democratic women elected to public office.
Davis became an overnight national political sensation during Texas' special legislative session this summer, when she staged a filibuster that temporarily blocked a series of new state limits on abortion. The omnibus abortion bill was later easily approved, however, after Perry called lawmakers back for a second special session.
Abbott, meanwhile, has been attorney general since 2002 and enjoys strong support from both the mainstream Texas GOP and conservative grassroots groups.


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Tax Bill Boosts Oil, Gas Drilling — and Renewable Energy
An agreement by House and Senate negotiators would open Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling, while preserving tax credits for wind power and other clean energy. The bill also would extend a tax credit of up to $7,500 for purchases of plug-in electric vehicles such as the Tesla Model 3 and Chevrolet Bolt.
Republicans rolled out the bill late Friday.
Opening the remote Arctic refuge to oil and gas drilling is a longtime Republican priority that most Democrats fiercely oppose. The 19.6-million-acre refuge in northeastern Alaska is one of the most pristine areas in the United States and is home to polar bears, caribou, migratory birds and other wildlife.
Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski and other Republicans say drilling can be done safely with new technology, while ensuring a steady energy supply for West Coast refineries.
Murkowski, who chairs the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said opening the refuge to drilling is "the single-most important step we can take to strengthen our long-term energy security and create new wealth."
The House and Senate are expected to vote on the $1.5 trillion tax legislation next week as GOP leaders push the most sweeping rewrite of the tax code in more than three decades.
The bill preserves a phase-out of tax incentives for both the solar and wind industries passed in 2015. Tax credits for wind are set to expire in 2020, and solar credits in 2022.
The wind-energy credits are popular with some Republicans, including Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley and South Dakota Sen. John Thune, who worked to defend them after they were curtailed in a version passed by the House.
Electric cars comprise just about 1 percent of sales nationwide, but several states have mandates that such "zero emission vehicles" make up a much larger portion of vehicle sales. Manufacturers worry that eliminating the tax credit would have made those targets virtually impossible to meet.
The Arctic refuge has been the focus of a political fight for nearly four decades. Former President Bill Clinton vetoed a GOP plan to allow drilling in the refuge in 1995, and Democrats led by Washington Sen. Maria Cantwell defeated a similar plan in 2005.
Most congressional Republicans support the drilling plan, including veteran Alaska Rep. Don Young, one of the plan's negotiators. Young called drilling "crucially important to the nation" and said it would decrease U.S. dependence on foreign oil and create jobs for Alaskans.
Democrats and environmental groups say the GOP plan risks spoiling one of the nation's most pristine areas and is especially unwise at a time when U.S. oil production is booming, with imports declining and exports reaching record levels.
Lawmakers "do not need to ruin a wildlife refuge and an ecosystem that is intact just to give tax breaks to big corporations," Cantwell said. "We can do better than this."


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FDA warning public of risks of online pharmacies
(AP) -- The Food and Drug Administration is warning U.S. consumers that the vast majority of Internet pharmacies are fraudulent and likely are selling counterfeit drugs that could harm them.
The agency on Friday launched a national campaign, called BeSafeRx, to alert the public to the danger, amid evidence that more people are shopping for their medicine online, looking for savings and convenience.
Instead, they're likely to get fake drugs that are contaminated, are past their expiration date or contain no active ingredient, the wrong amount of active ingredient or even toxic substances such as arsenic and rat poison. They could sicken or kill people, cause them to develop a resistance to their real medicine, cause new side effects or trigger harmful interactions with other medications being taken.
"Our goal is to increase awareness," FDA Commissioner Dr. Margaret Hamburg told The Associated Press, "not to scare people away from online pharmacies. We want them to use appropriate pharmacies."
That means pharmacies that are located in the U.S., are licensed by the pharmacy board in the patient's state and have a licensed pharmacist available to answer questions. In addition, the pharmacy must require a valid doctor's prescription for the medicine. Online drugstores that claim none is needed, or that the site's doctor can write a prescription after the customer answers some questions, are breaking the law.
Research by the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy, which represents the state pharmacy boards, found that of thousands of online pharmacies it reviewed, only about 3 percent follow state and federal laws. In fact, the group's website lists only a few dozen Internet pharmacies that it has verified are legitimate and following the rules.
Most consumers don't know that. An Internet survey, conducted by the FDA in May, questioned 6,090 adults. It found that nearly one in four Internet shoppers has bought prescription drugs online, and nearly three in 10 said they weren't confident they could do so safely.
The campaign comes after some high-profile cases of counterfeit drugs reaching American patients earlier this year.
In February and again in April, the FDA warned doctors and cancer clinics around the country that it had determined they had bought fake Avastin, a pricey injectable cancer medicine, from a "gray market" wholesaler. The fake Avastin vials originated in Asia or Eastern Europe and were transferred through a network of shady wholesalers before being sold to clinics by a wholesaler claiming to be in Montana.
In another case, the FDA issued a warning in May after learning consumers shopping on the Internet had bought fake versions of generic Adderall, a popular medication for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
No deaths or serious injuries have been linked to those fakes, but Hamburg notes that when drugs don't help patients get better, doctors usually blame the disease or assume a different medicine is needed. That means most fakes aren't detected.
So the FDA, which has put increasing focus on the counterfeiting problem, on Friday launched a website, www.FDA.gov/BeSafeRx , that shows consumers how to determine if an online pharmacy is safe.
"Buying prescription medicine from a fake online pharmacy can be dangerous, or even deadly," the site warns.
It includes tips on how to spot illegal pharmacies, links to state databases of licensed pharmacies and explanations of all the dangers of rogue pharmacies. Besides likely getting fake drugs, that includes the risk that they will infect your computer with viruses, sell your personal and financial information to other rogue websites and Internet scammers, or charge you for products you never ordered or received.
Many rogue pharmacies claim to be in Canada — because Americans know medicines are cheaper there and assume that's why they're getting a deal. Many fraudulent sites even put the word Canada in their name, or display the Canadian flag prominently on the site. Their web storefronts are slick and look professional. And they all offer prices that are unbelievably low.
"If the low prices seem too good to be true, they probably are,' Hamburg said.
The FDA is collaborating with several other federal agencies and departments and even Interpol in the campaign, Hamburg said, and it has asked medical and pharmaceutical industry groups to join in.
It's also reaching out to doctors, pharmacists and medical facilities to spread the word. They'll get access to materials they can download, from patient fact sheets and discussion guides to sample blog items and web banners for a practice's own website. There's also a list of tips to help doctors determine if a patient may be buying medicine online.
The agency will do a follow-up survey to see if the campaign's message is reaching the public.
"What's truly important to us is that consumers know how to look for an online pharmacy that's legitimate and safe," Hamburg said.


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Dēmos · Classical Athenian Democracy · a Stoa Publication
[ link colors: Demos | External Source | Citation to Evidence| Word Tools ]
→ Summary.
The 4th c.: Intentional Homicide.
The 4th c.: Impiety and Olives.
History: Reforms of the early 5th c..
History: Cimon and Themistocles.
History: Areopagus and the Demos.
History: After the Thirty Tyrants.
A Check on the Assembly in the 4th c..
Christopher W. Blackwell, edition of January 26, 2003
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Plot on a Map
The Areopagus, or "Hill of Ares" (Ἀρεῖος πάγος), in Athens was the site of a council that served as an important legal institution under the Athenian democracy. This body, called the "Council of the Areopagus," or simply the "Areopagus," existed long before the democracy, and its powers and composition changed many times over the centuries. Originally, it was the central governing body of Athens, but under the democracy, it was a primarily the court with jurisdiction over cases of homicide and certain other serious crimes. After an Athenian had served as one of the nine archons, his conduct in office was investigated, and if he passed that investigation he became a member of the Areopagus. Tenure was for life.
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The 'game' aspect of this beast we call a computer game always involves 'loops'.
- The player starts with a mental model that prompts them to...
- Apply an action to...
- The game system and in return...
- Receives feedback that...
- Updates their mental model and starts the loop all over again. Or kicks off a new loop.
Nested, dependent loops yields complex feedback loops and unexpected dynamics. Loops tend to deliver value through the act of being exercised. Thus they are well suited for mastery tasks that involve trial and error or repeated exposure. The goal of both loops and arcs is to update the player's mental model, however loops tend to rely on a balance of the following:
- Interrelated actions that trigger multiple loops in order to bring about specific system dynamics.
- Systems of crisply defined cause and effect that yield self contained systems of meaning.
- Functional feedback that helps players understand causation.
'Arcs' have similar elements to a loop, but are not built for repeated usage. The player still starts with a mental model, they apply an action to a system and receive feedback. This arc of interaction could be reading a book or watching a movie. However, the mental model that is updated rarely results in the player returning to the same interaction. The movie is watched. The book consumed. An arc is a broken loop you exit immediately.
Arcs are well suited for delivering a payload of pre-processed information. You'll typically find many arcs have the following footprint:
- Simple independent actions such as turning a page or watching a movie
- Simple systems that rely heavily on complex mental models to have meaning. Text on a page is a good example.
- Complex evocative feedback that links together existing mental models in some unique, interesting or useful manner. For arcs, the feedback is 99% of the payload and the actions and systems are simply a means to an end. Once this payload is fully delivered, the value of repeated exposure to the arc drops substantially.
One of the common issues with arcs is that people burn out on them rapidly, rarely desiring to experience them more than once. It is possible to give arcs a bit more staying power by stringing them together serially in a sequence of arcs. This is a pretty proven technique and is at the base of the majority of commercial attempts to give content arcs longer retention. Businesses that rely on a constant sequence of arcs to bring in ongoing revenue often find themselves running along the content treadmill. If you stop producing content, the business fails.
Any loop can be superficially described as a series of arcs with one arc for each pass you make through the loop. This is an expanded loop. This is useful for recording a particular play-through, however it tells you little about the possibility space described by the loops. Where loops often describe a statistical spectrum of outcomes, the arc notation describes only a single sample.
Mixing Loops and Arcs
Since both loops and arcs can be easily nested and connected to one another, in practice you end up with chemistry-like mixtures of the two that can get a bit messy to tease apart. The simplest method of analysis is to ask "What repeats and what does not?"Narrative games are the most common example of mixing loops and arcs. A simple combination might involve layering a segment where the player is engaged with loops with a segments of arcs. This is your typical cutscene-gameplay-cutescene sandwich.
However, the analysis can get far more detailed. For example:
- Parallel Arcs: You can treat the emotional payload of song as an arc that plays in parallel to the looping gameplay.
- Levels: The spatial arc of navigating a level provides context for exploring variations on a central gameplay loop. The 'Golden Path' in a single player level is really just another name for an arc.
- Micro Parallel Arcs: A game like Half Life combines both levels and parallel arcs to deliver snippets of evocative stimuli as you progress through the level.
In the past I've discussed criticism as a game that attempts to revisit an arc repeatedly and embellish it with additional meaning. The game is to generate essays superficially based on some piece of existing art. In turn, other players generate additional essays based off the first essays. This acts as both a referee mechanism and judge. Score is accumulated via reference counts and by rising through an organization hierarchy. It is a deliciously political game of wit that is both impenetrable to outsiders and nearly independent of the actual source arcs. Here creating an arc becomes a move in the larger game. Intriguingly, tabletop roleplaying games use a similar core structure though the high level rewards differ.
Even in these complex cases, understanding which behavior is a loop and which is an arc helps tease apart the systemic behaviors. Of the two, loops are rarely discussed in any logical fashion. People note the arcs and comment on them at length while being quite blind to the loops driving the outcomes. Both criticism and religions are lovely examples of how loop analysis can provide a practical description of the game's ruleset and magic circle even when the actual players are only vaguely aware of their constraints.
The growth of arcs in games
In the pre-computer era, games dealt almost entirely with loops. The light arcs that games like Chess or Monopoly contained served the highly functional purpose of triggering a player's mental schema. Once that setup payload was delivered, the games focused almost entirely on loops. One could easily claim that historically the term 'game' was used to describe an entertainment made predominantly of loops.With the advent of computer games, designers started mixing more arcs with their loops. Adventure games, game endings and other narrative elements became more prevalent. There are strong cultural and economic reason why this occurred at this period of time that are not strictly an inherent function of the computer game medium.
The primary driver for the proliferation of arc-based games is that they fit nicely into the existing retail business model. Over the past 40-years, the dominant way you made money off media was to sell the customer an arc, be it a book, an album or a movie. Once they had consumed that, you sold them another one. With a large enough portfolio of games (typically managed by a publisher), you'd get a reliable stream of revenue.
As is the case with evolutionary systems, certain ill-fitting forms of games were punished financially and thus faded from the market. Assume you tried to build a popular evergreen game. You sell it once and that is the only money you get for the rest of the consumer's life. The retailers didn't want that outcome. Nor did the publishers. They preferred to sell players multiple games a year, year after year. The developers that made games that fit the constraints of this specific market reality flourished with profits from mega hits used to fund future moon launches. Many of the modern game tropes such as beatable games, sequels, game concept conveyable by box covers, etc are a direct result this early retail environment.
Again, this is a statistical process, not a conspiracy. Mammals and dinosaurs coexisted for millions of year but the shifting climate ended up being more amendable to one form than the other. During the retail era, evergreen games still existed, but in diminished quantities.
Since systems are hard to understand, one popular just-so story that emerged during this period that arc-heavy games are some ideal outcome of new computer technology. This matured into a strange arc-worshipping segment of the population that predicts a technology-driven singularity for games that involves ever richer payloads and an eventual acceptance as an equal of other arc-centric media. Someone like David Cage, maker of Heavy Rain, is a modern example of such ideals. But the roots go back much further to the dreams of early science fiction writers and researchers that had little practical experience with creating games. They sold us a delightful dream for the future of games without understanding the first thing about the actual loop-like nature of games.
On reflection, it seems quite false to claim computers enabled arc-heavy gaming. A choose-your-own adventure was technologically feasible a hundred years ago. This suggests that arc-heavy games are not nearly as inevitable as some might imagine.
Consider the arcade market with its very different business requirements. The arcade owners, publishers and developers were less interested in selling consumable boxes and more interested in repeat play. This business constraint encouraged the creation of evergreen loop-based games that thrived for decades. The market and the culture hugely shapes the form of the games we make. It is certainly not locked in stone.
The market is shifting once again. With in-app purchases, there is a large financial benefit to keeping the player engaged both emotionally and financially for long periods of time. A fit game is one that you play forever all while paying for your hobby. It is not one you beat and cast aside. This suggests that loop-heavy games may be making a comeback.
Untangling loops and arcs in existing game forms
So how do we evolve our designs with the market environment? One exercise I've been performing on various games is identifying loop and arcs in a popular genre and then removing the arcs to see if what is left stands on its own. What I've discovered is that arcs are almost never critical game elements. You can remove them and still have a playable game.As an exercise, take your favorite genre (such as platform games) and remove the following:
- Puzzles
- Missions
- Narrative sequences that are not specifically functional feedback that powers the completion of a loop.
Can you make a wonderful game out of the remaining bones? The vast majority of the time you can. Even deeply arc-heavy graphical adventure games yield procedural hidden object games at their root. Now, you can never get rid of arcs completely, nor would you want to. Loops and arcs are ingredients and the goal is to create a new recipe with different mix rather than unquestioningly recreated the same meal again and again.
A brilliant future for loops
However, this is admittedly a rather reductive exercise. What I'm far more interested in is what happens when we, as designers and developers, invest our full energy in exploring the potential of loops. The language here is far less developed and it is an extremely fertile field for a young developer to make their mark. Consider the following sparely settled frontiers:- Both Will Wright and Notch made millions by exploring the loops of player expression.
- Eve forges forth into new territory with every update by exploring the loops of economics and politics.
- Star Craft thrives because it taps into the mastery loops at the competitive heart of sports.
- No one is even talking about the loops inherent in religion, a system that has driven the behavior of humanity for thousands of years.
- Games of improv or bluffing or charades are all loop-based activities with nearly zero traction in the markets today. These are games that can be played for life.
Look for loops and arcs in your game. What is the balance between the two elements in your design? What does your game need?This isn't a black and white situation and I respectfully ask you to avoid couching this in any tired us vs them terminology. There is not one market. You may find that the traditional arc-heavy recipes are exactly what you need. If you are selling to a community whose norms for buying games were set during the retail era, creating a great beatable payload of entertainment may make you a lot of money. Many of the popular indie sales channels remain conservative recreations of markets past. It is a well trodden path.
- Author evocative arcs
- Build sequels
- Reduce portfolio risk in order to survive long droughts between mega hits
- Invent dynamic loops
- Build a hobby
- Create a fortified island nation with an ongoing stream of revenue.
Above all, evolve.
take care,


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Los Angeles, CA, USA — When the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles acquired an early letter written by Adolf Hitler, it turned to Electrosonic to create an interactive exhibit for one of the most important archival documents in the history of the Second World War.
The letter was written in September 1919 and is the only document personally signed by Hitler, linking him to the elimination of the Jewish people. In the letter, Hitler calls for "an anti-Semitism based on reason…[whose]…final aim, however must be the uncompromising removal of the Jews altogether." The letter was found by an American GI in Nuremberg in 1945.
The four-page typewritten letter was purchased last spring by Rabbi Marvin Hier, founder and dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, who called the letter "the most significant ever acquired" by the Center. The letter was written six years before Mein Kampf was published.
The letter's acquisition was widely covered by the New York Times, the International Herald Tribune, and the media around the world.
Electrosonic has been responsible for many exhibits and permanent installations since the Museum of Tolerance opened in 1993 as an educational arm of the Simon Wiesenthal Center.
Electrosonic sales consultant Les Hill and VP of Entertainment Chris Conte collaborated with Sue Burden, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Administrative Officer of the museum, to determine the best way to showcase the letter. In order to allow the guests to explore the letter in depth, Electrosonic recommended that a multi-touch surface be installed along with digital content generated from the letter itself. To insure that the best digital content was created, Electrosonic turned to long-time creative content partner Cortina Productions to develop the content and interactive software.
The artifact itself is housed in a wall-mounted glass display case along with a 65-inch Mitsubishi LED touchscreen. The touchscreen is powered by CyberTouch. Museum visitors stand in front of the touchscreen to view content crafted by Cortina Productions, which allows them to virtually interact with the letter, reading it in the original German language or translated into English. A graphic image of a magnifying glass enlarges portions of the letter for easier inspection.
"The GUI can be operated by two users at the same time," says Electrosonic project manager Guy Fronte. "In addition to the user mode for one or two visitors, there's also a docent mode for museum docents making presentations to groups."
Visitors can also access major milestones in the history of the Third Reich, as well as, news articles, maps and still photos, plus video clips about the acquisition of the letter in 2011.
Electrosonic provided a Dell Vostro 460 Mini Tower with an ATI Radion HD 5570 graphics card as the interactive video source for the touchscreen display. A ceiling-mounted Dakota speaker array supplies audio for the film clips and sound design elements for the interactivity.
"The Hitler letter exhibit has been a very successful attraction with visitors," says Sue Burden. "Electrosonic was very professional to work with, as always; it's a pleasure to do projects with them, and we keep asking them to do more and more things for us."
At Electrosonic, Win Roach was the exhibit's lead installer and Julie Adgurson the engineer. All of the vendors worked with the architect, Hansol Park, a Senior Associate with Yazdani Studio of Cannon Design.
Electrosonic is an international audio-visual company that creates tailored, state-of-the-art solutions for a wide range of markets including theme parks, museums, video conferencing and control rooms. Since its founding in 1964, Electrosonic has built a strong reputation for working on complex projects, both large and small, and has developed lasting partnerships with customers and suppliers. Beyond complete integrated systems, Electrosonic provides a comprehensive scope of services including technical design, projector lamp sales, maintenance and operational support. www.electrosonic.com